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Post by 61666 on Aug 27, 2022 7:19:04 GMT
The perennial issues remain. Though we need certain players, availability, cost and whether or not we can tempt them are the limiting factors. Perhaps our biggest problem is not affordability, but simple geography. Teams in the north and Midlands have a much wider catchment area because there are many towns within fifty miles of each other with strong football connections. Much less so here, indeed, though we have London to the west, housing and travel is expensive and it all makes recruitment harder than some other areas. Probably why the NLNorth is stronger than the NLS too.
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Post by jdl on Aug 27, 2022 9:48:16 GMT
The perennial issues remain. Though we need certain players, availability, cost and whether or not we can tempt them are the limiting factors. Perhaps our biggest problem is not affordability, but simple geography. Teams in the north and Midlands have a much wider catchment area because there are many towns within fifty miles of each other with strong football connections. Much less so here, indeed, though we have London to the west, housing and travel is expensive and it all makes recruitment harder than some other areas. Probably why the NLNorth is stronger than the NLS too. History, basically. Football grew up in poorer, working class communities - basically the Midlands and the north. Outside of London, there was little interest in the south, especially down here. The FL was an entirely northern creation, with southern clubs playing in the Southern League (as a result, Spurs are the only 'non-league' club ever to win the FAC!). There were/are, of course, poorer, working class communities down here, but there was never the density of populations and community spirit that the north had. You can see the same thing in other community aspects, like cooperative societies, workers' education, political and union movements, welfare clubs, etc - all very strong in the Midlands and North, but almost nonexistent down here. Hence Thatcher's destruction of the miners. It was never about short-term politics (or global warming!), it was a purely idiological war against working class solidarity and opposition. Which, unfortunately, she won. You've only got to look at modern day football to see how successful she was...
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Post by Tstone on Aug 27, 2022 12:05:18 GMT
The perennial issues remain. Though we need certain players, availability, cost and whether or not we can tempt them are the limiting factors. Perhaps our biggest problem is not affordability, but simple geography. Teams in the north and Midlands have a much wider catchment area because there are many towns within fifty miles of each other with strong football connections. Much less so here, indeed, though we have London to the west, housing and travel is expensive and it all makes recruitment harder than some other areas. Probably why the NLNorth is stronger than the NLS too. History, basically. Football grew up in poorer, working class communities - basically the Midlands and the north. Outside of London, there was little interest in the south, especially down here. The FL was an entirely northern creation, with southern clubs playing in the Southern League (as a result, Spurs are the only 'non-league' club ever to win the FAC!). There were/are, of course, poorer, working class communities down here, but there was never the density of populations and community spirit that the north had. You can see the same thing in other community aspects, like cooperative societies, workers' education, political and union movements, welfare clubs, etc - all very strong in the Midlands and North, but almost nonexistent down here. Hence Thatcher's destruction of the miners. It was never about short-term politics (or global warming!), it was a purely idiological war against working class solidarity and opposition. Which, unfortunately, she won. You've only got to look at modern day football to see how successful she was...
To be pedantic - the FA Cup started in the 1871, the FL followed in 1888, so technically there have been a number of non-league winners as there were no leagues
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Post by Bernie on Aug 27, 2022 12:34:33 GMT
Rubbish. We live within 30 minutes of a city of millions, many of them poor. We have a great catchment area.
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Post by jdl on Aug 27, 2022 16:32:30 GMT
Rubbish. We live within 30 minutes of a city of millions, many of them poor. We have a great catchment area. And unicorns can fly...
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Post by jdl on Aug 27, 2022 16:33:22 GMT
History, basically. Football grew up in poorer, working class communities - basically the Midlands and the north. Outside of London, there was little interest in the south, especially down here. The FL was an entirely northern creation, with southern clubs playing in the Southern League (as a result, Spurs are the only 'non-league' club ever to win the FAC!). There were/are, of course, poorer, working class communities down here, but there was never the density of populations and community spirit that the north had. You can see the same thing in other community aspects, like cooperative societies, workers' education, political and union movements, welfare clubs, etc - all very strong in the Midlands and North, but almost nonexistent down here. Hence Thatcher's destruction of the miners. It was never about short-term politics (or global warming!), it was a purely idiological war against working class solidarity and opposition. Which, unfortunately, she won. You've only got to look at modern day football to see how successful she was... To be pedantic - the FA Cup started in the 1871, the FL followed in 1888, so technically there have been a number of non-league winners as there were no leagues I wish I'd put money on someone posting that! But to be even more pedantic - you can't be 'non-league' if there's no league!
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